CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Roman Religion in the
Vision of Tertullian
Cecilia Ames
The western Christian literary tradition that begins in the second century with the
first Latin Christian authors from the north of Africa introduces a vision of Roman
religion from a different stance, not just because it does so from another religion,
but because it does so from somewhere distant from Rome, a province in the west
of the empire. These authors, among whom Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Cyprian,
Arnobius, Lactantius, and St. Augustine stand out, in their eagerness to defend, dif-
fuse, and impose Christian religion, concentrate their efforts on attacking Roman
religion, in an attempt to discredit its gods and its religious practices. Hence these
Christian texts abound with references to Roman religion and its followers, but do
so from a new perspective, as elements of a discourse that transforms the traditional
image, initiating a way of constructing the other which will become paradigmatic in
western literary tradition. These references to Roman religion are most varied and
not only embrace the religious practices of Roman citizens, which they mention,
describe, and criticize, but also approach the attempts at systematization and the-
oretical discussions on Roman religion developed by different Roman authors, who
are apprehended in a special way and with whom a discussion is established.
This vision of Roman religion that Christians outside Rome bequeath in their writ-
ings has two features. On the one hand, it shows a clear perception of the different
religious practices in different cities of the empire, as well as local selection in the
reception of Roman practices, providing rich material to investigate this religion as
a local, regional, and provincial phenomenon. On the other hand, however, what is
also present and intimately bound to this is the question of the Christian reception
of Roman literature, of the role played by the literary texts containing information
on religion for the expansion, knowledge, and diffusion of Roman religion anywhere
in the empire. From this perspective, the issue of literary representations and sys-
tematization of Roman religion is important, as well as the specific handling of this
systematization and representation by the first Latin Christian apologists in the